Will County’s plan to buy the downtown First Midwest Bank building advanced on Thursday, part of a multiyear building program to modernize and centralize county government offices.

The county board’s executive committee voted unanimously to give County Executive Larry Walsh’s office permission to close on the bank building and its 4.3-acre site, 50 W. Jefferson St., for $4 million.

One of the most spectacular flameouts in Will County politics is still casting sparks, as former County Coroner Robert Tezak — the Joliet millionaire who made the card game Uno an international sensation — again faces prison time in a 1987 arson.

Federal prosecutors want Tezak locked up for not making a good-faith effort to pay off $1.2 million in fines and restitution that came along with his 12-year prison sentence for setting fire to his Crest Hill bowling alley and threatening a government witness.

Prosecutors say Tezak lives in a posh golf course community in Arizona, drives luxury cars, coordinates multimillion-dollar real estate deals and has racked up $380,000 in gambling winnings while telling his probation officers he earns just $200 per month.

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer and the unofficial beginning of a 2014 Illinois campaign season that features a full list of contests ranging from the U.S. Senate and governor's seat to Congress, the state legislature and county offices.

Candidates will hit parade routes across the state Monday, and Tuesday marks the first day Democratic and Republican contenders can seek voter signatures on candidacy petitions to appear on the March 18 primary ballot.

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is seeking re-election to the post he narrowly won in 2010 after being elevated to the job a year earlier due to the impeachment of imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Quinn is being challenged by Bill Daley, the former White House chief of staff and son and brother to formerChicago mayors.